Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to wheeled toys which run on a flat surface, and more particularly to a toy vehicle such as an auto or racing car which when propelled by a player in the forward direction from a starting point, acts to wind a spring motor to store energy therein, the vehicle at the conclusion of its forward run being caused by the energized spring motor to reverse its orientation as it runs back toward its starting point.
Toy vehicles are known which include a clockwork spring motor that is wound by pressing the car on the ground and pushing the car forward a few feet. In this arrangement, the front wheels of the vehicle are operatively coupled to the spring of the motor so that the forward movement of the vehicle acts to wind the spring. When the car is then released by the player, the energized spring acts through a gear train to drive the wheels to cause the car to move forward until the motor is exhausted.
The practical difficulty with a known vehicle of this type is that at the end of the run, the vehicle is then a fair distance from its starting point; hence the player must go after the vehicle in order to again play with it. This limits the play value of the vehicle, for the player quickly tires of having to recover the vehicle after each play.
In order to overcome this drawback, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,104,365 and 2,606,402 to Fuchs disclose a toy car having a spring motor and a reversing wheel in an arrangement in which the direction of motion is changed when a bumper coupled to this wheel comes in contact with an obstacle. If, however, the spring motor is exhausted before the vehicle encounters an obstacle, there will be no reversing action.
Another approach to the problem of reversal is that described in the Foster U.S. Pat. No. 2,830,403 in which a toy car is provided with a spring motor coupled by a cable to a cone mounted on the axle of the rear wheels. When the car is propelled forward by the player, the turning rear wheels cause the cable to coil itself on the cone, and in doing so to wind up the motor. At the end of the run, the wound motor then unwinds to uncoil the cable and turn the wheels in the reverse direction, causing the vehicle to return to its starting point.
The main objection to the Foster arrangement is that the vehicle in its return trip travels backwards; hence this movement is unrealistic and not comparable to that of an actual car which, before returning to its starting point, turns around at the end of its forward run.